First, thanks so much Cathi for carving out the time to join us on your 30th Wedding Anniversary.

Look & listen as my guest, friend & founder of The Photo Managers, shares the story of her & her husband’s anniversary journals. So fitting to share this story surrounded by 30 roses her husband bought to celebrate their love.

As newly-weds they decided to start the tradition of keeping a family journal. Once a year, on their anniversary they would go for a special dinner and bring their journal with them. They would take the time to think about the past year in their family life & list out the things that stood out from this year in review.

Cathi shared an example with us & turned to the entry for 1998.

She noted that her daughter was born in Abilene, Texas that year.

She minimized the effort & held up these/her/their simple journals. There are only 2 for the whole 30 years and the second one still has lots of pages left.

Though they didn’t seem like a big deal years ago, they fascinate her more & more now. She loves going back and seeing what they choose to write down… aka what mattered to them each year.

So much has happened over the years. Parents have died, Covid, 911, and kids have grown from birth to troubled adolescents to hopefully more stable adulthood. These journals are Things that matter. They are full of stories of true life… not just the high points… the low ones too.

When Cathi was thinking about what Thing brings her joy, magic & meaning these journals stood out. She didn’t think about it until I invited her to be a story-sharer & she realized it landed on her anniversary.

She’s pretty certain she’ll pass them down to her children.

Her parents didn’t tell these true life family stories. She was there when her Dad lost his job. She remembers coming home after school & his car was in the driveway. He was standing there smoking, and he had stopped smoking. She could tell he was upset but she don’t know how he felt. All she “knew” was he disappeared into the basement for a few years in the dark… perhaps he suffered from deep depression but he didn’t write anything down or share his story/stories.

“My kids will know our victories & challenges. We lost jobs… and all these struggles, losses & gains that happened over the years. They can read them & see how you came out the other end.

So stories, in any way you tell them, REALLY matter.”

Find out more about this dynamic woman: https://www.cathinelson.com

And YES there IS a profession (and it’s growing) that helps people with their photo collection!

And find out more about her company, The Photo Managers: https://thephotomanagers.com

This short story was clipped from my live virtual Show & Tale: Significant Objects in the fall of 2021 which encourage us to build connections, community & legacy one story of stuff at a time.

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